Water pressure

The Consumer Council for Water's assertion that revoking environmentally damaging abstraction licences could see domestic supplies dry up (Water bills to rise £450m to save wildlife, July 12) is both alarmist and inaccurate.

Ensuring that the water industry does not damage the environment is a fundamental test of its sustainability - water company resource plans suggest it can certainly do this without any threat to the public water supply. There are many pressures on future water supplies, not least the threat pollution poses to up to 12% of our water sources, and continued leakage from old infrastructure.

The Blueprint for Water coalition estimates that, in England alone, some 500 rivers, lakes and wetlands are at risk from excessive water withdrawals. For the Consumer Council for Water to try and link attempts to rectify this situation with drought orders, hosepipe bans and price rises is unhelpful and undermines their own duty to promote sustainability.Mark Lloyd Anglers' Conservation Association Arlin Rickard Association of Rivers TrustsJeremy Biggs Pond ConservationMark Avery Royal Society for the Protection of BirdsMartin Spray Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Stephanie Hilborne The Wildlife TrustsMatt Shardlow Buglife: The Invertebrate Conservation TrustPaul Knight Salmon & Trout Association